Friday, August 14, 2015

The Frontstretch Newsletter: Sprint Cup, Truck Series Practice Results From Michigan

THE FRONTSTRETCH NEWSLETTER
Presented by Frontstretch.com
The Best Seat at the Track, The Best View on the Net!
Aug. 14, 2015
Volume IX, Edition CXLI
~~~~~~~~~~
What to Watch: Friday

- Today, Sprint Cup, XFINITY and Camping World Truck Series teams will all be practicing at Michigan and Mid-Ohio.  Lots of laps will be turned and there will likely be complaining.  All Sprint Cup Practice can be seen on NBCSN.  Opening XFINITY practice will be on there as well, but XFINITY Series Happy Hour will be on NBC Sports Live Extra.

- Aaron Bearden is LIVE from the track. Follow our Facebook and Twitter for all the latest news and info!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This weekend's TV Schedule can be found in Couch Potato
Tuesday here.
 
Top News
by The Frontstretch Staff

Carl Edwards Paces Cup Field In First Michigan Practice

Joe Gibbs Racing keeps on rolling during a summer where they've seen their teams surge into title contention. Carl Edwards and his No. 19 ARRIS Toyota paced the field following first practice at Michigan International Speedway. Read more

Fontana Removed From 2016 IndyCar Schedule

As IndyCar puts together next season's schedule one longtime oval has been removed. Auto Club Speedway, site of one of the year's exciting finishes and scariest wrecks has been taken off the list of future races. No replacement for Fontana was immediately named. Read more

Hemric On Top Of The Heap In Michigan

Daniel Hemric and NTS Motorsports continue their strong first season together in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. The driver of the No. 14 Truck led practice for Saturday's Career for Veterans 200 at Michigan. Read more

Son of Top Fuel Racer Killed in Motorcycle Accident

Dalton Millican, son of NHRA Top Fuel racer Clay Millican, died as a result of injuries suffered in a motorcycle crash Wednesday night in Tennessee.  Read more

Doug Coby Earns Comeback Victory in Wild Weeknight Race at Thompson

Wednesday night, Doug Coby came back from an early black flag, charged through the field and earned his third straight Whelen Modified Tour victory at Thompson Speedway in CT.  However, he didn't exactly make any friends doing it.  Read more

Tyler Tanner, MAKE Motorsports Partner for Michigan

MAKE Motorsports announced this week that Tyler Tanner will drive the team's No. 50 Chevrolet in Saturday's Careers for Veterans 200 at Michigan International Speedway.  Tanner replaces Ryan Ellis, who is practicing and qualifying the No. 01 for JD Motorsports at Mid-Ohio in place of Landon Cassill.  Read more

Have news for The Frontstretch?  Don't hesitate to let us know; email us at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com with a promising lead or tip.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Frontstretch Folio: Pure Michigan 400
by Phil Allaway

The Sprint Cup Series returns to Michigan for their second and final visit of the year to Michigan International Speedway for the Pure Michigan 400.  The race can be seen at 2:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon on NBCSN; the race can also be heard on your local MRN affiliate or SiriusXM Channel 90. Drivers will compete for 200 laps (400 miles) en route to the checkered flag.

Records and facts

Last year, Jeff Gordon snatched the lead away from Joey Logano on the final restart with 17 laps to go and pulled away to his third victory of 2014.  Kevin Harvick was second, followed by Logano.  Paul Menard and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. rounded out the top-5 finishers.

All-time, David Pearson has the most victories at Michigan with nine; the most recent of which came in 1978.  Cale Yarborough has eight wins.  Among active drivers, Greg Biffle is the winningest driver at Michigan with four career victories on the two-mile D-shaped oval.  Kurt Busch, Bobby Labonte and Jeff Gordon all have three wins.  Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Ryan Newman, and Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards all have two apiece.  Six more drivers that will be in Sunday's race have one win at the track.

Track Facts
Track / Race Length: 2-mile, D-Shaped oval, 200 laps (400 miles)
Banking: 18 degrees in turns

Frontstretch: 3,600 ft., banked 12 degrees

Backstretch: 2,242 ft., banked 5 degrees

Grandstand Seating: 84,000
Pit Road Speed: 45 mph
Pace Car Speed: 55 mph
Opened: 1969

Website: http://www.mispeedway.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MISpeedway

Twitter: http://twitter.com/MISpeedway

Pre-Race Schedule:

Practice 1: Friday, August 14, 11 a.m. - 1:25 p.m. ET on NBCSN

Practice 2: Saturday, August 15, 8:30 a.m. - 9:25 a.m. ET on NBCSN

Happy Hour: Saturday, August 15, 11:30 a.m. - 12:25 p.m. ET on NBCSN

Qualifying: Friday, August 14 at 5:05 p.m. ET on NBCSN

Say What?!

"I love Michigan. It's been a good track for us.  We didn't run well there in the spring, but we've learned some stuff since then.  We have an opportunity to run well since we were decent at Indy and this is the same package.  Personally, I like the lower downforce package, but since we did pretty well at Indy I feel like we'll be good this weekend." - Greg Biffle

"Michigan [International Speedway] is one of my favorite tracks to go to. It's on my list of the more unique tracks we visit. It's an awesome feeling coming off of Turn 4 and coming down the frontstretch. It's an extremely fast track and the draft comes into play. Obviously, this weekend is going to be a little different since NASCAR has implemented a new aero package for this race. Every weekend is important, but Michigan is especially important since it's so close to Chevy's headquarters. There's a lot of people out at the track from Chevy, and I'm looking forward to getting BRANDT and Chevy a great finish." -  Justin Allgaier

"I just hope it's not too hot. That package -- without being able to let the air out the back of the cars -- was like being in a slow cooker for three or four hours. That's my biggest concern. But I actually liked that package at Indy as far as the way it raced. If it wasn't quite so hot, it would probably be my favorite package. I don't remember getting to a car and not being able to do anything with it. At the same time, Indy and Michigan are totally different. At Indy, you're on straightaways for three-quarters of your lap and in a corner for a quarter of it. At Michigan, you're probably going to be in a corner for over half your lap. So, the aero sensitivity of what our cars do behind people is going to be really noticeable in those corners. You're going to definitely see people moving around." - Cole Whitt

Phil Allaway is the Newsletter Manager and a Senior Writer for Frontstretch.com.  He can be reached via e-mail at phil.allaway@frontstretch.com.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TODAY ON FRONTSTRETCH:
by Sean Fesko

by the Frontstretch Staff

by Amy Henderson

as told to Mike Neff

by Kevin Rutherford

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FRONTSTRETCH TRIVIA:

Q:
In 2001, Sterling Marlin won the Pepsi 400 presented by Meijer at Michigan.  For Marlin, it was his first Cup win since the rain-shortened 1996 Pepsi 400 at Daytona.  There was another milestone reached that day as well.  What was it?

Check back Monday for the answer, here in the Frontstretch Newsletter!

Thursday's Answer:

Q:  The 1993 Detroit Gasket 200 is probably best known for the blowover crash that ended Johnny Benson's series debut in the opening laps.  Dale Earnhardt finished the race in second, but he won't show up there if you look at the results.  What happened?

A: In post-race inspection, Earnhardt's No. 3 was found to have an illegal carburetor.  Specifically, someone drilled holes in the metering blocks for better fuel flow (and thus, more power).  That's not legal.  So, NASCAR DQ'd Earnhardt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
COMING MONDAY
In The Frontstretch Newsletter:
We'll have a recap of Sunday's  Pure Michigan 400, plus an update on the points and any other news that breaks this weekend.

On Frontstretch.com:
We'll have a series of post-race commentaries breaking down the action from MIchigan.
-----------------------------
Talk back to the Frontstretch Newsletter!
Got something to say about an article you've seen in the newsletter? It's as easy as replying directly to this message or sending an email to editors@frontstretch.com. We'll take the best comments and publish them here! 
©2015 Frontstretch.com

--
--
Feel free to forward this newsletter if you have any friends who loves
NASCAR and great NASCAR commentary. They can subscribe to the Frontstetch by visiting http://www.frontstretch.com/notice/9557/.
 
If you want to stop your Frontstretch Newsletter subscription, we're sorry
to see you go. Just send an email to
TheFrontstretch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com from the address that you
recieve the Frontstretch Newsletter.

---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Frontstretch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to thefrontstretch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

No comments:

Post a Comment